
Join Us
Join Us
Freelancer FAQ
Joining Us
What are the main advantages of joining The Difference Collective?
Working for us is different from working for a traditional agency. You’ll be an independent healthcare communications consultant working flexibly on your terms, so you choose your hours and place of work. Rather than going it alone, you get the support and camaraderie of a virtual community, teammates and the opportunity for relevant work for your skills and aspirations.
It’s all the good stuff from the life and culture of a terrific agency without the ties and constraints:
• Premium project work opportunities
• Collaborative project working
• A community for idea generation and sharing
• Internal and external training
• IR35 and related industry legal/HR support and advice
• Networking opportunities and Collective meetings
• Discounted professional services, e.g. insurance and accountancy
• Membership of industry bodies, e.g. PRCA and HCA
• Access to a list of preferred suppliers
• Access to a media database (when working on client projects)
• IT support for TDC work
Does it cost me anything to join?
Yes. Annual membership to The Difference Collective is £150 + VAT. And when you work on a client project, we deduct 3% from your day rate as a project admin charge.
You set your own day rate: you can take into account these charges if you want to.
As a member, what will the Collective expect from me?
Engagement and collaboration are fundamental to working Collectively. We’re at our best when members have a genuine interest in contributing to The Difference Collective rather than simply meeting an expectation. That’s why we favour applications from those who are looking to be an active member of our community rather than simply considering us as a jobs board.
There are a few specific requirements:
• attend an induction session to become familiar with our proposition and ways of working
• update your LinkedIn profile to include The Difference Collective and engage with our posts to support us on social media
• access our collaboration platform Basecamp at least once a week (via a browser or the app) and engage with the community there
• engage with and contribute to the relevant specialist topic groups for your skills and interests
• read and share our newsletter
• regularly attend virtual coffee mornings or other social engagements
• provide annual updates to information we hold on file
But we are big believers in the idea that you get out of life and work what you put in. We encourage you to contribute actively to our growth and success in any way you can. This might be creating content for our blog or newsletter, uncovering marketing and PR opportunities, introducing new clients, running a training session for your peers. Do you have another idea of how you might contribute? We’re all ears!
What development and learning opportunities are there?
Members share their formidable healthcare communiations knowledge, expertise and latest insights within the community – we regularly schedule webinars over Zoom delivered by experts from the team. Where there’s demand for external training and refreshers, we can set up sessions at a discounted group rate.
We have 20 expert interest groups led by our Differentiators – members of the Collective with particular experience and knowledge in these areas. We’ll introduce you to the groups that match your skills and interests, so you can contribute to and learn from expert peers through ongoing topical chats or more formal update sessions. We encourage you to contribute blogs and content to our website and newsletter – we’ll promote them widely to build your personal reputation as well as the Collective’s.